Tuesday, December 28, 2010

THE SHOP AT CEDAR AND SECOND

The shop has been decked out for the holidays since the first week in November. Mary and I will be working on putting Christmas items away and concentrating on Valentines day and then looking forward to our spring displays. When you're in retail, you have to be weeks ahead of the next holiday or event. It's a lot of work to change one's shop around, but it is also nice to create a whole new atmosphere. This antique rocking horse of Mary's generated a lot of interest. It's very unusual and probably one of a kind. Nature always plays a major role in the shop as does re purposed handmades.






I will be bringing a few of these sweater wreaths to the Dupage Expo show in St. Charles, Il. Jan 1 & 2. I've held a few aside just for this show as they have been selling as soon as I put them out. Ever year I do some wreaths in white tones using strips of cloth, lace, old wool blankets, and pieces of felted sweaters. This year, fabric and wool flowers were fun for me to do and a terrific way to use up those smaller bits of sweater wool. Every month, when I do a show, I bring things that I have made that have not been shown before. It keeps things interesting! However, this will be the third show that will have these wreaths.












Mary painted this wonderful chalk board/coat rack out of a foot board and door knobs. Love, love, love it!















Monday, December 27, 2010

HAPPINESS IS....

...spending time with my two darling grandaughters, Alice, shown here sporting shades and a very chocloate smile which will be more evident in the next picture.
and baby Abigale, who is now 6 months old. I snapped these pictures yesterday evening as they were getting ready to return home after several fun and noisy hours spent at Nana"s house!




Thursday, December 16, 2010

I'M ALWAYS CUTTIN UP...

...on old sweaters! After the scarves, pillows, hand warmers and/or hats are created from felted sweaters, there are still lots of bits left of some really fine knit fabric. The base of this wreath is straw, which makes it really easy to pin the flowers into if you don't want to use glue.


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

I'VE BEEN HAVING FUN.........

........Making things for my shop. I love how these garlands turned out! At a thrift store I found a huge box of manilla folders. After cutting them down to size, i was able to run them through my printer, printing on both sides, and cut out my figures. The great thing about manilla file folders is that they seem to be a tad stronger than card stock and already have a cream color. So far I have only designed an angel and a dove, but have other designs in mind.


Also, adorning plain, down pillows with crochet and fabric flowers and leaves. I love how childlike and naive they look. They seem to be appealing to ladies of all ages.

















Friday, September 24, 2010

JUNK BONANZA: PART 2

THIS VENDOR WAS ONE OF MY FAVORITES! THEY HAD A LOT OF INDUSTRIAL JUNK THAT THEY MADE INTO HIGH ART. THEIR DISPLAY WAS OUTSTANDING! THEY PUT UP THE "BONES" OF THEIR CANOPY, BUT DRAPED NETTING AND SHEETS OF TIN FOR THEIR CEILING, NOT TOTALLY COVERED, BUT ENOUGH TO PRODUCE THE "FEEL" THAT THEY WANTED. NOT ONLY WERE THEY TALENTED, THEY WERE A VERY SWEET COUPLE.




THESE MOUNTED GEARS AND WHEELS FLEW OUT THE DOOR FOR THEM.
.
WONDERFUL HANGING LAMP.




A CLEVER USE OF SPINDLES. ANOTHER GREAT LAMP. I STILL HAVE A LOT MORE PHOTOS OF THE SHOW, BUT SINCE I'M DOING ELKHORN, WISC. THIS WEEK END, I PROBABLY WON'T POST TILL MONDAY. HAVE A GREAT WEEK END!








Thursday, September 23, 2010

I JUST GOT BACK FROM "THE" PLACE TO BE

THE JUNK BONANZA, SEPT. 16-18, IN SHAKOPEE, MN. HAD THE MOST TALENTED VENDORS, UNDER ONE ROOF, (well, three roofs really) AS I HAVE EVER SEEN! 120 OF THEM TO BE EXACT, AND MY BUD JANICE K. AND MYSELF WERE PART OF THAT FIGURE! WOW! WE WERE SIMPLY BLOWN AWAY, AWESTRUCK AND SPEECHLESS! (well, almost) A SIMPLY SUPER FANTABULOUS SHOW! OVER TEN THOUSAND PEOPLE SHOPPED THEIR LITTLE HEARTS AWAY AND I AM SO HAPPY THAT I WAS THERE! JANICE AND I LEFT ON TUESDAY, @6.00 am TO MAKE THE 7 HR. TRIP, WITH TIME FOR SHOPPING STOPS ALONG THE WAY, OF COURSE. I'M PROUD TO SAY THAT THERE WAS NO PUSHING AND SHOVING WHILE SHOPPING THIS TIME. WE AGREED THAT WE WERE TO BE ON OUR BEST BEHAVIOR! ON WEDNESDAY, SET UP DAY, WE ARRIVED EARLY, RARING TO GO. DESPITE THE FACT THAT I RAN INTO A METAL ROAD BARRIER WHEN WE ARRIVED ON THE GROUNDS, THINGS WENT FAIRLY SMOOTHLY. AFTER MUCH LAUGHTER AND TEASING FROM JANICE, WE DECIDED THAT IT WAS A GOOD THING THAT MY AIRBAG HAD NOT INFLATED , NO REAL DAMAGE HAD BEEN DONE, AND NO ELSE HAD WITNESSED THE INCIDENT. WHEN WE CHECKED IN, HOWEVER, I KNOCKED SOME ONE'S COFFEE CUP OVER AND RUINED A BRAND NEW , CLEAN TABLE COVER. LET ME TELL YOU THAT THE STAFF WAS NOT PLEASED BUT VERY GRACIOUS ABOUT THE INCIDENT. AS I SCURRIED AWAY, I BELIEVE JANICE MUMBLED SOMETHING ABOUT ME NOT GETTING OUT VERY MUCH! THE REST OF THE DAY WAS SPENT SETTING UP OUR TINY 10X12 SPACE AND WAS UNEVENTFUL............................................................BTW, many of you might remember a past blog, labeled "road kill", when i showed what i had found on the side of the road, but hadn't decided what to do with it. Well, at the last minute i made an owl earring holder out of it and it was one of the first things that sold to dealer in Florida.
WE TOOK MANY PHOTOS OF OUR BOOTH, BUT MOST OF THEM CAME OUT TO DARK AS "SOMEONE" HAD NOT HAD THE FLASH ON! I POSTED A FEW OF THEM, AND WILL ADD MORE OF THE WHOLE SHOW IN THE NEXT WEEK OR SO.

AREN'T JANICE'S SILK QUILT PUMPKINS ADORABLE!
































Wednesday, July 28, 2010

MORE FEED DOG TALES (no pun intended)

I still have not had my sewing machine's feed dog repaired! I simply can't be without it right now! So, how did you sew these pillows together, one might ask? Well, since I am now in charge of which way the needle goes, how fast and how many stitches per inch, it can still be done. It's not as easy, but still possible. I am truly having fun with these and will have more to show at a later date. For now, I am pulling things together for the Kane Co. Flea this week end and am also trying to create things for the Junk Bonanza Show in Sept. This summer is not only flying by, it has also been super busy!


Thursday, July 22, 2010

A LITTLE GARDEN GRUNGE

IN MY SHOP, THERE IS A SIDE PORCH THAT IS GLASSED IN AND THE PERFECT PLACE TO HAVE A GARDEN ROOM. IT'S FULL OF "GARDEN GRUNGE" AND I LOVE IT! IT'S THE PERFECT PLACE FOR ALL OF THE JUNK THAT MARY AND I FIND AND RE PURPOSE. IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY AT THIS PICTURE, YOU WILL SEE LOTS OF YARDSTICKS HANGING VERTICALLY. (not a good pic. i'll have to take a better one.) I HAD LOADS OF OLD YARDSTICKS THAT I WON AT AN AUCTION, SO THEY BECAME OUR "VERTICAL BLINDS" AND THERE WAS ENOUGH TO HANG FROM FOUR OF THE LARGER WINDOWS THAT OVER LOOK A" kind of" GARDEN.AN OLD GRUNGY WINDOW SCREEN FOUND AT AN ABANDONED HOUSE.

AN OLD FUNNEL IS NOW A HANGING LAMPSHADE. ( I HAVE LOTS MORE THAT I AM MAKING FOR THE JUNK BONANZA IN SEPT.)









A BIRD HOUSE MADE FROM AN OLD WOODEN BOX WITH A HINGED LID. PERFECT WHEN THE HOUSES NEED TO BE CLEANED IN THE FALL.




A RESALE FIND! REPAINTED AND A FABRIC AND LACE COLLAGE DONE FOR THE SEATS. ( don't fall in love with these, they sold yesterday!)




WE STORE OUR OLD LAMPSHADES ATOP ONE OF DISPLAY SHELFS. WE OFTEN HAVE TO TELL CUSTOMERS THAT THEY ARE NOT FOR SALE YET!






















Wednesday, July 7, 2010

ALLIE AND ABBY

HERE'S THE NEW LOVE IN MY LIFE, BABY ABBY. WHAT CAN I SAY EXCEPT THAT SHE HAS STOLE MY HEART JUST LIKE HER BIG SISTER ALICE HAS.



BIG SISTER ALICE WAITING TO HOLD HER BABY SISTER, ABBY.


BABY SISTER ABBY ENJOYING THE EXPERIENCE!







Thursday, July 1, 2010

IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF THE FEED-DOG

As if life isn't hectic enough, (daughter had her second baby, Abby, the day after I returned from England, (jet lagged Nana gleefully spent 2 days with active 2 year old.) but more on that later.) I'm getting ready to do the Kane flea market this week-end and needed my sewing machine. Just for straight stitching, nothing fancy, and my feed-dog decides to break! Well, not wanting to be totally defeated and wanting to try free motion stitching anyway, I grabbed some linen napkins from my stash and thought, why not! Here's the result. four linen birdie napkins. I like them and they are fun to do. So, until I get my machine into the repair shop, free-motion stitching it will be!